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SAP S/4HANA: An Overview and Key Considerations
What Is SAP S/4HANA?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been the cornerstone of SAP solutions since the company was founded in 1972. SAP’s first packaged mainframe software application, SAP R/2, was released in 1979, and was followed by SAP R/3, SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 5.0, and SAP ECC 6.0. SAP’s current flagship enterprise ERP solution, SAP S/4HANA, was released in 2015, and was a significant shift for the organization as it ran exclusively on the SAP HANA database.
Modules included in an SAP S/4HANA system include: Asset Management, Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing, R&D/Engineering, Sales, Service, Sourcing and Procurement, and Supply Chain. Each of these modules consist of multiple applications that offer specific features and functionality, as well as industry-specific and enhanced line-of-business functions.
SAP S/4HANA: An Overview and Key Considerations
What Is SAP S/4HANA?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been the cornerstone of SAP solutions since the company was founded in 1972. SAP’s first packaged mainframe software application, SAP R/2, was released in 1979, and was followed by SAP R/3, SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 5.0, and SAP ECC 6.0. SAP’s current flagship enterprise ERP solution, SAP S/4HANA, was released in 2015, and was a significant shift for the organization as it ran exclusively on the SAP HANA database.
Modules included in an SAP S/4HANA system include: Asset Management, Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing, R&D/Engineering, Sales, Service, Sourcing and Procurement, and Supply Chain. Each of these modules consist of multiple applications that offer specific features and functionality, as well as industry-specific and enhanced line-of-business functions.
Key Considerations for SAPinsiders
- SAP S/4HANA is the solution that SAP wants enterprise ERP customers to be running, but it is about more than simply adopting technology. According to Tom Janoshalmi, the former Global Head of SAP Digital Core Move, organizations need to look at their move to SAP S/4HANA to being about a connected story not just a technology upgrade. While SAPinsider research has shown that many organizations look at SAP S/4HANA largely because of the upcoming end of maintenance for core SAP ERP releases, more see a move to SAP S/4HANA as the opportunity to re-engineer and update processes and configurations. Janoshalmi agrees. He wants organizations to focus on the value they can derive from SAP S/4HANA and what they can achieve moving forward. You can hear more about why the move to SAP S/4HANA is important by reading SAPinsider’s interview with Janoshalmi.
- SAP S/4HANA is the core around which organizations can build their transformed landscape. When Eczacıbaşı Building Products needed to update their existing systems and processes, they looked at SAP S/4HANA as the central part of their update. The overall process involved a complete evaluation of all their current processes and implementing technologies that would increase agility while boosting customer brand experience. SAP S/4HANA was used to connect all the different parts of the business in that process. This article covers more about the Eczacıbaşı project, as does this event session where they discuss their results.
- SAP continues to enhance SAP S/4HANA by including it in RISE with SAP. RISE with SAP is not a new product, but an offering that includes assets that help organizations achieve transformation. The central part of this is SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the software-as-a-service version of SAP’s flagship ERP solution. Damien Johnson from SAP explains in this session what RISE with SAP is, and how it impacts organizations’ existing SAP S/4HANA projects.
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Live from SAPinsider Studio: Birgit Starmanns of SAP on SAP S/4HANAApr 6, 2016 — Birgit Starmanns, SAP, Senior Director, Product Marketing, SAP S/4HANA, joins SAPinsider Studio at the Financials 2016 event in Las Vegas to discuss SAP S/4HANA, touching on Universal Journal, Central Finance, cloud vs. on-premise, and SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management (the 1511 update) which broadens supported functionality beyond financials. This is an edited transcript of the discussion: […]
7 minute read
Think Outside the Traditional SAP BoxApr 5, 2016 —
Analyst Joshua Greenbaum examines customer adoption and use of newer technologies, such as SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP S/4HANA, against sometimes unreasonable Wall Street expectations and how use of these technologies in new markets (such as sports and medicine) can ameliorate those expectations by providing quantifiable success stories and newfound visibility.
5 minute read
Massive Landscape Simplification Possibilities with SAP S/4HANAMar 16, 2016 — This is part 3 of a 5-part series of presentations hosted by SAPinsider and sponsored by SUSE, VMware, SAP, HPE, and Intel Michael St-Jean explores the technical underpinnings of SAP S/4HANA to understand how it is used to dramatically simplify the SAP landscape. This presentation was presented live at the Modernize your SAP Landscape one-day […]
1 minute read
Adapt SAP S/4HANA Business Functionality to Meet Your Company’s RequirementsJan 18, 2016 — Discover how to apply two extensibility options to modify SAP S/4HANA business functionality. Key Concept SAP S/4HANA is the next generation of business applications that can be installed locally in a data center or in a public or managed cloud. One of the central issues users have is how to extend the business functionality delivered […]
20 minute read
Bring Real-Time Analytics and Reporting into Your SAP HANA Platform: Q&A on the Benefits of Agile Data MartsJan 1, 2016 — Data volume continues to increase among organizations of all sizes and verticals, and many have turned to business intelligence (BI) tools to make the best use of their data. These BI technologies are key to integrating, analyzing, and leveraging all of this data, but for those just starting this process, the question remains — what […]
11 minute read
Spark Business Transformation with a Digital CoreJan 1, 2016 —
Companies in every industry are striving to become more agile to seize opportunities to transform the business. This is achieved with a flexible, digital core that enables a company to pivot in real-time to capitalize on innovations in cloud, big data, and network connectivity. Discover the tenets of a digital platform in the context of SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management, and learn how this reimagined digital platform helps companies drive unprecedented business value.
9 minute read
Q&A Recap: Building a Case for SAP S/4HANAJan 1, 2016 —
The digital economy has accelerated business opportunity, but it has also created added complexity within IT systems. These complexities contribute to decreasing employee satisfaction, and increasing costs.
Read this recap of a live Q&A session with SAP experts Lance Holbert and Carl Dubler for the answers to questions posed by readers’ on how SAP S/4HANA can impact businesses and how best to facilitate the planning and transition to SAP S/4HANA.
4 minute read